Early evening summary
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A landmark report on racial disparity has criticised the use of the term “institutional racism” and claimed other factors, such as family or class, have more “significant impact” on life chances than racism. The report from Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which was set up by Boris Johnson last year in response to the Black Lives Matter protests (see 8.42am), seems intended to reset the national debate on race, minimising the significance of systemic or structural racism. But commission members have not been fully clear on exactly what they are saying on this topic (see 5.42pm) and opposition parties, trade unions, race experts and equality campaigners have widely dismissed report’s analysis as shallow, naive or politically motivated. Labour said it was an “insult” because it ignored the racial factors in deaths from Covid. (See 4.04pm.) And it has emerged that a “considerable number” of the people who responded to the call for evidence by the commission did tell it they thought Britain was structurally or systemically racist. (See 3.14pm.) My colleagues Peter Walker and Nazia Parveen summarise what the report says, and the response of critics, here.
- Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, has said “national security” would be the first foreign policy priority of a Labour government. In a speech she said:
First and foremost the next Labour government will make national security our top priority. To defend the British people from new and traditional threats we will protect our armed forces, take action to defend our democracy and work with partners across Nato and the EU to deal with Russian aggression. The defence and security of the British people is written into the Labour party’s constitution and it is part of our DNA.
That’s all from me for today. But coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Updated
In an interview for ITV’s Peston, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said that although racism still existed in the UK, a lot of progress had been made. He said:
That’s not to say there aren’t instances of racism that of course exist in this country.
But if I think about the things that happened to me when I was a kid, I can’t imagine those things happening to me now.
And I think that’s a sign of the progress we’ve made as a country.
The race commission report argues that data on the use of stop and search by police is misunderstood. As with some of its findings on Covid (see 4.51pm), this is another example of how it plays down the racial element in data that would be interpreted by others as evidence of systematic or structural racism.
The report says:
It is sometimes claimed that black people are nine times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched.
This relative rate is reported at a national level and does not account for differences in the sizes or characteristics of local populations or the way stop and search is used at a local level.
For these reasons, the national relative rate is not always accurate and stop and search rates should be analysed at smaller geographic levels.
Others would argue that, if stop and search is being used disproportionately in areas where black people live, then that itself is evidence of a problem.
Race commission not saying there's no institutional racism in UK, says member - after chairman implied the opposite
This morning Tony Sewell, the chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, told the Today programme that the commission had not found evidence that institutional racism existed in the UK. (See 8.42am.) This backed up the passage in the press release from the Government Equalities Office released overnight saying the report would suggest the “well-meaning ‘idealism’ of many young people who claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence”.
But on Radio 4’s PM programme Evan Davis has just interviewed Samir Shah, a TV executive and a member of the commission, and he asked Shah if he thought there was no institutional racism in the UK. Shah replied:
No, that’s not the view of me or the commission.
The report itself does argue that the term institutional racism is used too widely. It says:
We have argued for the use of the term ‘institutional racism’ to be applied only when deep-seated racism can be proven on a systemic level and not be used as a general catch-all phrase for any micro-aggression, witting or unwitting.
It also says people should distinguish between institutional racism, which it defines as “applicable to an institution that is racist or discriminatory processes, policies, attitudes or behaviours in a single institution”; systemic racism, which it defines as something that “applies to interconnected organisations, or wider society, which exhibit racist or discriminatory processes, policies, attitudes or behaviours”; and structural racism, which it defines as a term “to describe a legacy of historic racist or discriminatory processes, policies, attitudes or behaviours that continue to shape organisations and societies today”.
But generally the report does not go on to explain which of these terms the commission thinks do and do not apply in Britain. Broadly, it does not identify them as problems, preferring to focus on other explanations for disadvantage. (See 12.39pm.) But it does not say (as implied by the government briefing) that they don’t exist either.
Updated
From my colleague Peter Walker
Another curiosity of the No 10 race disparity report is that while there is a 60-page section on crime and policing, it's pretty much all about policing – as good as nothing on courts and the criminal justice system. "Courts" get one mention in the report, same for "juries".
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) March 31, 2021
The Green party has pledged a “revolution from the bottom up” through a green recovery plan as it launched its local election campaign, PA Media reports. PA says:
Speaking at the socially-distanced launch in London’s Battersea Park, co-leader Jonathan Bartley said voters should see the Green party as “the obvious choice” in the current climate.
The party is proposing a transformation of the agriculture industry, use of sustainable materials for sustainable homes and an improved transport network to distribute energy from offshore renewables more efficiently, in a move it says will “share the prosperity around”.
Bartley said he believed there could be some “real breakthroughs” for the party on 6 May as it looks to build support in areas such as Sheffield, Burnley and Bristol.
The TUC has accused the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities of seeking to “deny the experiences of black and minority ethnic workers”. In a statement, its general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said:
Black and minority ethnic workers are far more likely than white workers to be in low-paid, insecure jobs – such as temporary and agency jobs or zero hours contracts. And black and minority ethnic workers have been far more likely to be exposed to Covid infection and far more likely to die – because they are far more likely to be in frontline roles.
This is institutional racism. And it traps too many black and minority ethnic workers in poverty, insecurity and low pay.
Updated
The SNP has said the race commission’s report fails to grasp the scale of the problem. The party has issued this statement, from Kaukab Stewart, its candidate for Glasgow Kelvin in the Scottish parliament election. She said:
It’s evident that the review fails to properly grasp the scale of the issue and concerns raised, and there are questions over the cynical manner in which this review was trailed before its full publication.
We all need to have an open and honest conversation on race and the systematic and structural issues that perpetuate inequality. Only by acknowledging and understanding institutional racism will we be able to effectively tackle it in all aspects of life.
Labour says the report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities downplays the role of institutional or systemic racism in the pandemic. (See 4.04pm.) For reference, here is a passage addressing this from the report.
Another example of overly pessimistic narratives, heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic, has been on race and health. The increased age-adjusted risk of death from Covid-19 in Black and South Asian groups has widely been reported as being due to racism – and as exacerbating existing health inequalities.
However many analyses have shown that the increased risk of dying from Covid-19 is mainly due to an increased risk of exposure to infection. This is attributed to the facts that Black and South Asian people are more likely to live in urban areas with higher population density and levels of deprivation; work in higher risk occupations such as healthcare or transport; and to live with older relatives who themselves are at higher risk due to their age or having other co-morbidities such as diabetes and obesity.
These paragraphs are interesting because they are illustrative of the commission’s thinking; many people would argue that being disproportionately likely to have to live in a block of flats, do a job involving a high level of exposure to the public, share accommodation with relatives and live on an unhealthy diet are exactly the sort of factors that provide evidence of systemic or structural racism.
The UK has recorded 43 Covid deaths today, the government says on its dashboard. The total number of deaths over the last week is now almost 40% lower than in the previous seven days.
But Dr Yvonne Doyle, the medical director for Public Health England, has released this statement in response to the figures.
It is encouraging that the death rate is falling, but there are still as many people in hospital now as there were at the start of the second wave, and tens of thousands of us are getting infected every week and could become seriously ill. As restrictions lift and the weather improves, we cannot drop our guard. We’re not out of the woods quite yet.
The reaction among school leaders to the report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has been mixed, with cautious welcomes for proposals to invest more in improved careers guidance, early years’ education and an extended school day.
But Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, notes:
The parlous state of education funding as it currently stands makes all these ideas a pipe dream without significant extra investment. We are currently part-way through a three-year funding boost for schools which is very welcome but doesn’t repair the damage of the preceding squeeze, much less leave capacity for any other expectations.
The National Association of Head Teachers said its members were “deeply disappointed” by the report. Paul Whiteman, the union’s general secretary, said:
NAHT has already heard from many members that they are deeply disappointed by this report. Those members have told us that they feel let down, and that it does not accurately reflect their experiences. We have already seen from the reaction so far that the report simply does not reflect the reality of so many people’s lived experiences. To many, the findings will come as an insult.
It is clear that there remains a huge amount of work to do when it comes to tackling issues surrounding racism and race equality in the UK.
Schools and school leaders remain determined to do all they can to tackle all forms of inequality. Education remains one of the best tools we have to tackle the scourge of racism and inequality in this country, but this must be set alongside a wider societal approach.
Labour brands race report 'an insult' because it downplays institutional racism despite Covid death toll
Labour has described the race commission report as an “insult”. This is from Marsha de Cordova, the shadow minister for race and equalities.
This report was an opportunity to seriously engage with the reality of inequality and institutional racism in the UK. Instead we have a divisive polemic which cherry picks statistics.
To downplay institutional racism in a pandemic where Black, Asian and ethnic minority people have died disproportionately and are now twice as likely to be unemployed is an insult.
De Cordova is particularly critical of the passage about telling a “new story” about the Caribbean experience in history lessons. (See 1.16pm.) In her statement she said:
The government must urgently explain how they came to publish content which glorifies the slave trade and immediately disassociate themselves from these remarks.
Instead of ideology and division, The Labour party is committed to listening to people’s experiences and tackling racism in all its forms. The next Labour government will introduce a Race Equality Act to end structural inequalities.
And on Twitter she said:
This in one of the worst bits of the #SewellReport so far:
— I Can’t Breathe...Marsha de Cordova MP (@MarshadeCordova) March 31, 2021
Putting a positive spin on slavery and empire. Published on a Government website in 2021.
Is this for real? pic.twitter.com/pxRg5KtHcW
In October last year Sir Keir Starmer said the next Labour government would pass a Race Equality Act “to tackle structural racial inequality at source”.
Here are verdicts on the race commission report from a Guardian Opinion panel. The contributions are from: Halima Begum, Sam Phan, Katharine Birbalsingh and Remi Joseph-Salisbury.
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. A week of scandal in Westminster: Heather Stewart and Peter Walker look at the Greensill revelations about the former prime minister David Cameron, the Jennifer Arcuri interview, and the report published today by No 10’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. Libby Brooks reports on the state of Scottish politics. Plus, Paul Harrison and Katie Perrior discuss Downing Street’s communications strategy.
This is from David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary.
For my own mental well-being I am not doing media interviews on the race commission today. Like so many in Britain’s Black community I’m tired! Tired of the endless debate about whether structural racism exists with little desire to actually address it. We are being gaslighted.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) March 31, 2021
Earlier he set out his views in a passionate speech on LBC. (See 10.53am.)
'Considerable number' of those responding to commission's call for evidence did say UK systemically racist, government admits
More than 2,000 individuals, and more than 300 organisations, responded to the call for evidence that was launched when the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was launched last summer. Today the government has published a summary of the responses. While the commission has not endorsed claims that Britain is structurally or systemically racist, that was not the view of many people contributing to the consultation. The summary says:
A considerable number of respondents used terms such as ‘systematic’, ‘systemic’, ‘structural’, ‘institutional’, ‘internalised’, ‘inherent’ and ‘cultural’ racism to describe what they considered to be the cause of ethnic disparities. These views were often expressed by respondents who self-identified as belonging to an ethnic minority group and who shared personal or known experiences of discrimination arising in these forms.
In particular, they felt that they were less likely to be hired or to progress once they were in a job compared with their White counterparts. Many respondents said that this type of racism, as a driver of disparities, appeared to manifest largely but not exclusively in healthcare, policing and crime, education, employment, and housing.
I’m grateful to puzzledpete in the comments below for flagging this up.
The race commission report report says “education is the single most emphatic success story of the British ethnic minority experience.” But its publication follows a Guardian investigation looking into race and the UK education system this week. Through interviews, freedom of information requests, testimonies and extensive research, the Guardian found:
- UK schools recorded more than 60,000 racist incidents in the past five years with the government accused of failing to meet “basic safeguarding” measures by not legally obliging schools to report racism.
- More than 680 police officers are currently working in British schools with most being assigned to campuses in areas of high deprivation. Their activities range from being a point of contact for teachers to more intensive interventions such as stop and search and surveillance of children suspected of being gang members, with critics saying it could have a disproportionate effect on children of colour.
- Exclusion rates for Black Caribbean students are as much as six times higher than the rates for their white British peers in some local authorities, with Roma children nine times more likely to be suspended in some areas. Experts have called this an “incredible injustice” for schoolchildren from minority ethnic backgrounds.
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Hundreds of schools across England are reforming their curriculum to reflect the achievements of black and minority ethnic people and address the harmful legacy of colonialism, following a groundswell of demand from young people. In the absence of a government-led change in national curriculum, grassroots groups have stepped in to offer schemes that help schools improve their teachings.
The report has also coincided with hundreds of students staging a protest outside a London secondary school over allegations of racism amid changes to the curriculum, its uniform policy and the placement of a union flag outside the building.
Unemployment differences between ethnic groups have been declining, although they remain significantly higher for younger people, according to race commission report. PA Media says:
The pay gap between ethnic minority and white workers was also falling, and was at its lowest level in almost a decade, at 2.3%, according to the report from the commission.
The GBM union attacked the report, saying it was “deeply cynical” and ignored black and ethnic minority workers’ concerns.
The official study found that employment rates for white British and Indian ethnic groups were 77% and 76% respectively in 2019, 69% for black people and 56% for people in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group.
Employees from the white Irish, Indian and Chinese ethnic groups on average had higher hourly earnings than the white British ethnic group, the report suggested.
Kathleen Henan from the Resolution Foundation thinktank has a good threat on Twitter presenting alternative data on racial disparities relating to employment, pay and wealth. It starts here.
These real – and substantial – gaps in living standards need to be addressed. 11/11
— Kathleen Henehan (@kathleenhenehan) March 31, 2021
Race commission proposes extending school day, starting in disadvantaged areas
This is what the race commission says about its recommendation for a longer school day.
The commission recommends that the secretary of state for education, in collaboration with the government’s education recovery commissioner, urgently consider phasing in an extended school day. Led by evidence showing the positive impact of a longer school day for disadvantaged pupils, the phasing of the extended school day should, at first instance, prioritise the most disadvantaged areas and communities. The additional hours must provide all pupils with the opportunity to engage in physical and cultural activities, including working with local activity clubs. Participation in such activities will improve pupils’ health and social capital, allowing such pursuits to be more accessible to the most disadvantaged students.
Imperative for a successful extended school day is for the Department for Education (DfE) to secure ongoing additional funding allocation that will establish this recommendation as a permanent change in the way that schools operate. In order to overcome the significant operational challenges of delivering an extended school day, advice should be sought from education practitioners, parents, pupils and key stakeholders.
This proposal has the support of Robert Halfon, the Conservative chair of the Commons education committee. See 2.23pm.
And here is some more comment on the report from MPs.
These tweets are from Labour MPs.
The Conservatives have marked their own homework & decreed that Britain is a "model" on racial equality.
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) March 31, 2021
It's a disgraceful sham.
From Windrush to Grenfell, the Criminal Justice system to rates of poverty, systemic racism is all too real.
We demand change, not this whitewash.
The #SewellReport’s whitewash conclusions sit next to the Govt’s disgraceful record of not protecting ethnic minority communities in the pandemic.
— Apsana Begum MP (@ApsanaBegumMP) March 31, 2021
The sheer scale of death experienced by these communities in the second wave alone is still to be published.
It reeks of cover up.
The Sewell #RaceReport isn't worth the paper it's written on.
— Afzal Khan MP 💙 (@Afzal4Gorton) March 31, 2021
To deny the existence of institutional racism following the Black Lives Matter protests and the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on ethnic minority communities is ludicrous.
You can read my full response👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/WwToDXIwK7
I hope this report does not make the experience worse for Black people in our society.
— Janet Daby MP (@JanetDaby) March 31, 2021
The Government is presenting it in a way which straightforwardly denies the experience of many Black British people and for Black people living in the UK. 👇🏾https://t.co/Ps343MSPTJ
The idea that as there is more inequality, more racism and more discrimination in other countries so we don’t need to ask difficult questions about racism in the UK and should all pat ourselves on the back is exactly why we need to keep asking difficult questions #SewellReport
— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) March 31, 2021
And these are from Conservatives.
This report reflects what I believe to be the view of the vast majority of people in the UK. A very welcome evidence based addition to this conversation on inequality. An honour to have been able to contribute last year on white working class disadvantage.https://t.co/cUm3TT97sf
— Ben Bradley MP (@BBradley_Mans) March 31, 2021
The Commission on Race Disparities report confirms that disadvantaged white working-class boys & girls are academically behind most other ethnic groups. Something our @HouseofCommons @CommonsEd is examining here in our current inquiry 👉https://t.co/TH3aEsT8g4 👈 @thetimes 👇 pic.twitter.com/p6fHiBo1W3
— Robert Halfon MP -Working Hard for Harlow- (@halfon4harlowMP) March 31, 2021
Commission on Race Disparities Report gets it absolutely right ➡️'to address disadvantage & left-behind pupils, a longer school day should be considered (for predominantly sporting & wellbeing activities) - alongside more focused careers advice on apprenticeships' - @thetimes 👇 pic.twitter.com/tXsgNpbiXr
— Robert Halfon MP -Working Hard for Harlow- (@halfon4harlowMP) March 31, 2021
Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, is recommending this Times article (paywall) by Duwayne Brooks as commentary on the race commission report.
Brooks was a friend of Stephen Lawrence and was with him on the night he was murdered. He became a Lib Dem councillor, and more recently joined the Conservatives.
In his article Brooks says:
The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities is out today. Evidence-based, it tells truths that some don’t want to hear. Truths like racism still exists in the UK, but disparities don’t always arise because of it. Truths like geography and socioeconomic factors are far more likely to drive unequal outcomes. And truths like it is family breakdown that’s at the heart of some of the worst statistics in education and crime — the ones that most damage our children’s future prospects or, tragically, see them gone too soon.
Lots of commentary about the Sewell Commission report today. I would start with this article from @DuwayneBrooks whose significant knowledge of racism is borne of a painful, lived personal experience few today can imagine https://t.co/oeDLdIez70
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) March 31, 2021
Updated
Here is a response to the race commission report from Sunder Katwala, head of British Future, a thinktank focusing on issues of race and identity.
Response from @sundersays of @britishfuture to Race Commission report pic.twitter.com/55p8bpKbNh
— British Future (@britishfuture) March 31, 2021
Here is my colleague Aamna Modhin’s story on the race commission report.
And this is how it starts.
A landmark report on racial disparity has criticised the way the term “institutional racism” is used and says others factors, such as family influence, socioeconomic background and religion, have more “significant impact” on life chances than the existence of racism.
SNP defections to Alba continue
As the trickle of SNP defections to Alex Salmond’s newly formed Alba party continues, it’s worth considering what their absence will mean for their former comrades. Jim Eadie, ex-SNP MSP and former aide to Nicola Sturgeon, announced his departure overnight, whilst yesterday the maverick former MP George Kerevan and Craig Berry, founder of the SNP’s Common Weal Group, have both announced their departures.
A Brexit-supporting veteran councillor Brian Topping, who defected to stand in the North East of Scotland, likened the emergence of Alba to “the best days of the yes campaign of 2014”.
It’s interesting to see Berry and Kerevan departing, with a statement saying:
We have now concluded that our attempts both at winning the SNP to genuine radical, anti-market policies and in democratising the party’s internal life have been thwarted.
The SNP Common Weal group, a coalition of leftwing activists who accused Sturgeon of over-centralising power, and Women’s Pledge, senior figures critical of official policy on gender recognition, made significant gains on the party’s ruling national executive committee last November, marking an internal rebellion against Sturgeon’s leadership style, as well as against her more cautious approach to referendum strategy and her support for transgender rights.
The Common Weal group promptly issued a statement calling on other members to remain in the SNP and fight for its prospectus via grassroots activism. It’s certainly the case that the exit of some fierce critics of transgender law reform – including the women’s officer and equalities officer on the NEC, both former SNP, now Alba party councillors – has come as a relief to who believed that the trans issue was being weaponised by those who wanted to attack the SNP leadership. But concerns about internal party structure and democracy remain.
Updated
Johnson says recommendations from 'important' report to be studied in detail
Downing Street has just issued this statement from Boris Johnson about the race commission’s report. He said:
The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was launched to conduct a detailed, data-led examination of inequality across the entire population, and to set out a positive agenda for change. I want to thank Dr Tony Sewell and each of the commissioners for generously giving their time to lead this important piece of work.
It is now right that the government considers their recommendations in detail, and assesses the implications for future government policy. The entirety of government remains fully committed to building a fairer Britain and taking the action needed to address disparities wherever they exist.
This is supportive, but only up to a point. When a government publishes a report like this, there is nothing to stop it saying on the day it will accept all or most of the recommendations. But Johnson is not saying that, and promising to consider recommendations in detail often signals a lack of enthusiasm. While some of the report’s 24 recommendations overlap with what the government is doing, others, like boosting funding for the EHRC (see 12.55pm), are probably less welcome.
From the economics professor Jonathan Portes
What the Commission on Race & Ethnic Disparity said about why ethnic minority people are more likely to die from covid-19 (left).
— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) March 31, 2021
What the ONS report they cite to support this claim actually says (right). pic.twitter.com/TjhLIJPUze
As my colleague Aamna Mohdin reports, the foreword to the commission’s report, by Tony Sewell, the commission’s chair, also suggests there is a “new story” to be told about the Caribbean experience. Sewell says:
There is a new story about the Caribbean experience which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a re-modelled African/Britain.
During last summers BLM protest, young people demanded the curriculum included the history of the British empire. This is the response from the government's landmark report on racial disparity, which states there's a "new story" to be told on slavery in the Caribbean. pic.twitter.com/EkfJBDm1O6
— Aamna Mohdin (@aamnamohdin) March 31, 2021
And this is from ITV’s Shehab Khan.
Ermmm, this part of the race report is quite something - a positive spin on slavery?
— Shehab Khan (@ShehabKhan) March 31, 2021
"There is a new story about the Caribbean experience which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering but how culturally African people transformed themselves" pic.twitter.com/HaFmGLxzdo
This is from my colleague Aamna Mohdin, the Guardian’s community affairs correspondent.
The government's report on race has 16 mentions of the term "institutional". But, it has a 100 references to "family", focusing on how familial dynamics and cultural practises fuel disparities. The message is clear: the post-MacPherson consensus on structural inequalities is over pic.twitter.com/WMTaob0AwO
— Aamna Mohdin (@aamnamohdin) March 31, 2021
The Scottish Labour party has lost a last-minute bid to have Anas Sarwar’s name included on ballot papers for the Scottish election, PA Media reports. PA says:
The party took legal action against the Electoral Commission over what it said was the refusal to allow the slogan “Anas Sarwar - Labour’s National Recovery Plan” to be on regional list ballots for the May 6 poll.
Earlier this month, Labour applied to have a description featuring its Scottish leader’s name and an election slogan featured on ballot papers ...
In a ruling on today, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen refused to grant Labour an order requiring the Electoral Commission to make a decision on its application before the deadline for delivering nominations later the same day.
The judge said doing so would cause prejudice to “other applicants, the electorate and the defendant’s independence from political pressure”.
The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities is recommending that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) can use its “compliance, enforcement and litigation powers to challenge policies or practices that either cause significant and unjust racial disadvantage, or arise from racial discrimination”.
Kishwer Falkner, the EHRC chair, said:
As the report says, we need to find a way to take our successes, learn from them and apply them to where we need to make further improvements. A joined-up approach is needed. Now is the time for action and we are ready to play our part.
Updated
Prof Kehinde Andrews, professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, told the PA Media that the report was a PR move, rather than a genuine attempt to understand racism. He said:
This is not a genuine effort to understand racism in Britain. This is a PR move to pretend the problem doesn’t exist. The evidence is clear, it’s been there for a long time around ethnic penalties in employment, around the problems in education, around the problems with policing.
Hundreds of deaths and 31,000 infections have been linked to Covid-19 exposure at work, PA Media reports. PA says:
The GMB union said 31,000 suspected cases of occupational exposure to coronavirus were reported to the Health and Safety Executive between April 2020 and March this year, while 367 workers’ deaths were suspected to be linked to workplace exposure to the virus during the same period.
The figures, obtained from a freedom of information request, are likely to significantly underestimate the true extent of exposure and deaths among workers, said the GMB.
The union called for urgent investment to make workplaces safe and full sick pay cover so that workers can afford to self-isolate.
Updated
Summary of key arguments in race commission report
Here is a summary of the arguments in the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report based on quotes from the foreword by Tony Sewell, the commission’s chair.
- Britain is no longer a place where the system is “deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities”, the report says. It says:
Put simply we no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities. The impediments and disparities do exist, they are varied, and ironically very few of them are directly to do with racism. Too often ‘racism’ is the catch-all explanation, and can be simply implicitly accepted rather than explicitly examined.
- Factors like class and family are more useful in explaining poor outcomes than racism, the report says. It suggests family is particularly important. It says:
This is also the first government-commissioned study on race that seriously engages with the family.
In many areas of investigation, including educational failure and crime, we were led upstream to family breakdown as one of the main reasons for poor outcomes. Family is also the foundation stone of success for many ethnic minorities ...
The evidence shows that geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion have more significant impact on life chances than the existence of racism. That said, we take the reality of racism seriously and we do not deny that it is a real force in the UK.
This is an argument that has always been popular in Conservative thinking.
- There should be more emphasis on the importance of individuals helping themselves to do better, rather than relying on others, or the state, the report argues.
As our investigations proceeded, we increasingly felt that an unexplored approach to closing disparity gaps was to examine the extent individuals and their communities could help themselves through their own agency, rather than wait for invisible external forces to assemble to do the job.
Again, this is another class Conservative argument.
- The white working class are disadvantaged too, the report says. It says:
Another revelation from our dive into the data was just how stuck some groups from the white majority are. As a result, we came to the view that recommendations should, wherever possible, be designed to remove obstacles for everyone, rather than specific groups ...
We are acutely aware that the door may be only half open to some, including the white working class. In this regard we have pointed out how in education, employment, health and crime and policing the UK can be a more inclusive and fairer landscape.
This argument, which is particularly influenced by the data on education, is useful to the government because it creates a link between the racial equality agenda and Boris Johnson’s “levelling up” promises that are particularly important in “Red Wall” seats.
- “Decolonising the curriculum” would be a mistake, the report argues. It says:
The ‘Making of Modern Britain’ teaching resource is our response to negative calls for ‘decolonising’ the curriculum. Neither the banning of White authors or token expressions of Black achievement will help to broaden young minds. We have argued against bringing down statues, instead, we want all children to reclaim their British heritage. We want to create a teaching resource that looks at the influence of the UK, particularly during the Empire period. We want to see how Britishness influenced the Commonwealth and local communities, and how the Commonwealth and local communities influenced what we now know as modern Britain.
This recommendation ignores the fact that the term “decolonising the curriculum” is widely misunderstood because it means different things to different people; people on the right often assume it means no longer teaching students about the white figures who have dominated traditional teaching in history and English, but for many academics it just means stressing alternative histories and viewpoints too (broadly in line with what the report proposes).
Report suggests 'idealism' of young BLM campaigners counter-productive for racial equality
The most provocative section of the overnight press notice summarising the report’s conclusion was the passage disparaging the “idealism” of young anti-racism campaigners. (See 8.42am.) The press notice did not include a direct quote from the report, but here is the section it was referencing. It is from page 27 of the report (pdf).
The idea that all ethnic minority people suffer a common fate and a shared disadvantage is an anachronism.
Yet both the reality and the perception of unfairness matter. The nationwide BLM marches last year were catalysed by a shocking case of police brutality in the USA that resulted in the death of George Floyd. Many British citizens – particularly young adults – felt compelled to protest and call for change here too. The countries are different, and face different race-related challenges. But in some places in the UK, especially in Black inner-city communities, historical wrongs by the state and police have left a deep legacy of mistrust too.
We understand the idealism of those well-intentioned young people who have held on to, and amplified, this inter-generational mistrust. However, we also have to ask whether a narrative that claims nothing has changed for the better, and that the dominant feature of our society is institutional racism and white privilege, will achieve anything beyond alienating the decent centre ground – a centre ground which is occupied by people of all races and ethnicities.
‘What lies behind disparity?’ is a key question to answer. We recognise the lived realities, and sometimes trauma, of racial disadvantage. Our thinking also looks hard at the evidence and the multiple causes in play, and seeks to come up with relevant measures, for example, to deal with the disproportionate effect of our class B drug laws on young black people or problems in mental health provision for those ethnic minority groups that struggle to access services when they need them.
This commission finds that the big challenge of our age is not overt racial prejudice, it is building on and advancing the progress won by the struggles of the past 50 years. This requires us to take a broader, dispassionate look at what has been holding some people back. We therefore cannot accept the accusatory tone of much of the current rhetoric on race, and the pessimism about what has been and what more can be achieved.
Full text of Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report published
The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report is out. It’s here (pdf).
And these are from Rob Ford, a politics professor and co-author of Brexitland, a very good book that explains the role identity politics, and attitudes to immigration in particular, played in the vote to leave the EU.
Today's report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities looks very much like an example of the "politics of racism" which @ProfSobolewska discussed at length in Brexitland. pic.twitter.com/gqYyERWaqf
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) March 31, 2021
Antiracism is a losing issue for the Conservatives, who have for 50 plus years been less trusted on the issue than Labour (and for good reason - all significant antiracism legislation passed by Labour). Yet dismissing racism is also a losing issue for them, too - so what to do?
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) March 31, 2021
The obvious answer is what we see today - acknowledging racism as an issue, while seeking (a) to play up (real) areas of progress and tell a positive story and (b) minimise attention to (real) areas of continuing discrimination and disadvantage
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) March 31, 2021
This provides them with a framing where they can both tell a positive story of progress on antiracism, and use it to justify opposition to more radical steps which would alienate identity conservative voters, while framing left criticisms as out of touch "woke politics"
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) March 31, 2021
It is no accident therefore that the briefing on the report is focusing on education - where a story can be told of ethnic minority success, while also drawing attention to poorer white students' disadvantage and thus appeal to identity conservative white voters
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) March 31, 2021
It is no accident the briefings also focus on unconscious bias training - this picks out some of the weakest terrain for radical antiracists, encouraging them to defend training programs which much research suggests are of dubious merit.
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) March 31, 2021
The idea, I suspect, is to try and get liberal antiracists to plant their flag on the worst hill - "Look at the woke radicals, dogmatically insisting on the gesture politics of unconscious bias training, which does nothing, and ignoring the real issues"
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) March 31, 2021
This is the kind of jujitsu we can expect more of on identity and race issues I suspect - the Conservatives' goal is to force a framing which makes liberal antiracism look intolerant, and makes their own inaction look like the product of success, rather than acceptance of failure
— Rob Ford (@robfordmancs) March 31, 2021
Here is comment from two journalists on what we’ve heard so far about the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report.
From my Observer colleague Sonia Sodha
I listened to the interview with Tony Sewell on the Today prog this morning with my jaw on the floor. Black people nine times as likely to be stopped and searched by police? Black women 4 times as likely to die in childbirth? But no, nothing to see here. https://t.co/PEwJKlJlex
— Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) March 31, 2021
From Sathnam Sanghera, a Times columnist and author of the acclaimed EmpireLand: How Modern Britain is Shaped by its Imperial Past
Needless to say, just did a @BBCr4today debate with someone (headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh) who has also accused BLm of encouraging a culture of "victimhood". This is a calculated and concerted effort by Britain's right wing to argue that racism is not a problem.
— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam) March 31, 2021
Logging off for day, but this feels like apt QOTD from #EmpireLand - what the locals said of Sikh immigrants like my parents in 1968. Things have improved for our community, but you don't need to look far to see such attitudes persist in relation to others https://t.co/vpstfO9pnM pic.twitter.com/2LbknuespS
— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam) March 31, 2021
Everyone involved in this report, from Munira Mirza (head of policy unit), to Tony Sewell, to Boris Johnson himself, has been critical of concept of institutional racism and argued racism is culture of "victimhood". And guess what it concludes...https://t.co/fjsfo5QeVz
— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam) March 31, 2021
Updated
The Institute of Race Relations, a thinktank, has issued a response to what the overnight briefing says will be in the report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.
Statement: The IRR responds to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report#SewellReporthttps://t.co/MmsGBtn46B
— Institute of Race Relations (@IRR_News) March 31, 2021
Here is an extract.
While much is made of the differences between communities, primarily in educational attainment and elite employment, we can see no attempt here to address the common ethnic minority experience of structural racism within areas such as the criminal justice system.
From my colleague Joseph Harker
Given today's Sewell report on racism, our talk tonight on how things have changed – from the Brixton riots to #BlackLivesMatter – is perfectly timed. Join Alex Wheatle, Linda Bellos, and Natasha Johnson of All Black Lives. Tickets here: https://t.co/Y1NmXzb8Dd #GuardianLive
— joseph harker (@josephharker) March 31, 2021
This is what Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said about what was revealed in the overnight briefing on the report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
What I’d really like to see from the report is a recognition that we’ve had report after report after report, but very little action has been taken.
At a time when black Caribbean children are three and a half more times likely to be excluded from school than their white counterparts, when black children are four times more likely to be arrested, we have got a problem and we’ve got to deal with it.
We shouldn’t seek to downplay structural racism, we should seek to take it on and deal with it.
I’m making a speech later today about what it means to be patriotic, it isn’t simply about waving a flag - although I’m very proud to do so - it’s about raising up the standards that we have for people in this country and giving people the ability to live large, rich, dignified, brilliant lives in this country.
Starmer says he's 'disappointed' by failure of race report to acknowledge structural racism
Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “disappointed” by the reluctance of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report to acknowledge the existence of structural racism. Speaking on a visit to Leeds, he said:
I haven’t seen the full report yet and, obviously, I’ll want to read that.
I’ve seen the briefings out of it and I’m disappointed.
On the one hand, there’s an acknowledgement of the problems, the issues, the challenges that face many black and minority ethnic communities.
But, on the other hand, there’s a reluctance to accept that that’s structural.
David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, has used his LBC show to deliver a withering rejection of the claim that Britain is not institutionally racist. He is also particularly critical of the suggestion (in the news release issued overnight - we still don’t know if it will appear in the report itself) that the “idealism” of those campaigning for racial justice is founded on a false premise. (See 8.42am.)
"Young people are saying black lives matter and Boris Johnson stands in their way."
— LBC (@LBC) March 31, 2021
This is David Lammy's stirring response to the diversity report which finds the UK is not institutionally racist. @DavidLammy pic.twitter.com/eyeNefWKXP
UPDATE: Here is an extract from Lammy’s speech.
British people, white and black, are dying to turn the page on racism.
They are working in food banks to support the marginalised. They are teaching in after-school clubs to raise awareness. They are working in rehabilitation centres to end the cycle of disproportionate mass incarceration.
Boris Johnson has just slammed the door in their faces by telling them that they’re idealists, they are wasting their time. He has let an entire generation of young white and black British people down.
Just as people marched against South Africa to free Mandela and Margaret Thatcher stood in their way. Just as folk got together and marched for an enquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence and John Major stood in their way. Now young people across the country come together and say ‘yes, black lives do matter’, and guess what, Boris Johnson stands in their way.
Let’s not forget that this report was rushed out in response to the overwhelming desire for change after the murder of George Floyd where thousands of people rallied for the black men, women and children suffering still, excluded in this country because of institutional racism.
This report could have been a turning point and a moment to come together. Instead, it has chosen to divide us once more and keep us debating the existence of racism rather than doing anything about it.
Updated
The GMB union has accused the government of “gaslighting” BAME groups with its Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report. Rehana Azam, the union’s national secretary for public services, said:
Only this government could produce a report on race in the 21st century that actually gaslights black, Asian and minority ethnic people and communities.
This feels like a deeply cynical report that not only ignores black and ethnic minority workers’ worries and concerns.
But is part of an election strategy to divide working class people and voters. It’s completely irresponsible and immoral.
Institutional racism exists, it’s the lived experience of millions of black and ethnic minority workers. We’re paid less, we’re more likely to be in high-risk jobs during the pandemic, we’re more likely to die from Covid, we’re more likely to be stopped and searched, to be arrested and to go to prison.
A constant theme of last night’s first televised leaders’ debate of the Holyrood election campaign was the timing of a second independence referendum, with audience members repeatedly questioning the need for one so soon after the pandemic and opposition leaders challenging the SNP’s plans and whether they would detract from the country’s recovery from Covid.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that she would like to see a second vote in the first two years of the new parliament, although she added the crucial caveat that this should be “after the crisis has passed”. But she also emphasised her strong leadership through the pandemic, pointing out that she had spent that day not campaigning but working with health advisers.
The new(-ish) Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, repeatedly brought the debate back to independence and challenged Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar in particular – who the Tories are fighting for second place – to join him in fighting off a second referendum.
Lorna Slater, for the Scottish Greens, argued that pro-union leaders were simply arguing about timing instead of putting forward strong reasons for remaining within the UK.
The Scottish Lib Dem leader, Willie Rennie, attempted to bring Alex Salmond’s new pro-independence party Alba into the conversation, saying:
I’ve seen a window into the future in the last few weeks ... arguments about independence, about strategy ... arguments between Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond which have been poisonous and unpleasant.
“Unpleasant” is certainly one word for Alba candidates’ recent social media outbursts, including economist Dr Jim Walker describing Nicola Sturgeon as a “cow” two days ago, and former boxing champion Alex Arthur suggesting he didn’t need a coronavirus vaccine because he has a “healthy immune system”, after tweeting that Romanian beggars were “fat pigs”.
Updated
Ethnic minorities 'doing better than white majority' in many aspects of life, says commission chair
Here are some more lines from what Tony Sewell, chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, said in his interview with the Today programme this morning.
- Sewell dismissed the claim that he was part of a “war on woke”. When this was put to him, he said:
No, I’m not a war on woke. If you ask me about taking the knee, look, I’ve got two bad knees ... and what we are about here is about getting working-class people, poor people, people who have got disadvantage towards opportunities, that’s the key thing about it.
- He said in many respects ethnic minorities were doing better than the white majority. He said:
In this report, in all the areas, crime and policing is an issue, but in education, in health, and particularly in the employment space, ethnic minorities are doing better than the white majority in many cases. We have to look at that, and we have to come out now - and the research community needs to do this - and use ethnic minorities as a model of success.
- He said that he was wary of the term “institutionally racist” because, when applied to a sector like education, it obscured the fact that educational outcomes for some ethnic groups were very good. Sewell is a former teacher and the summary of the report released overnight suggests it will have a large focus on education. The release includes this quote from the report.
Education is the single most emphatic success story of the British ethnic minority experience. The commission notes that the average GCSE attainment 8 score for Indian, Bangladeshi and Black African pupils were above the White British average.
- He brushed aside suggestions that he was hired to chair the commission because he said in the past that there was no institutional racism in 2010. “I never really said that,” Sewell said. Instead he said that he in the past he had made the point that the term institutional racism needed to be used properly (a point he made again in his interview this morning - see 8.42am.). The interviewer, Nick Robinson, may have been referring to this article by Sewell in Prospect in 2010. In it Sewell said:
What we now see in schools is children undermined by poor parenting, peer-group pressure and an inability to be responsible for their own behaviour. They are not subjects of institutional racism. They have failed their GCSEs because they did not do the homework, did not pay attention and were disrespectful to their teachers. Instead of challenging our children, we have given them the discourse of the victim — a sense that the world is against them and they cannot succeed ...
Much of the supposed evidence of institutional racism is flimsy.
Updated
These are from ITV’s Shehab Khan, who has more on the rather unsatisfactory media arrangements for the release of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report.
The govt commissioned report on race and ethnic disparities is published at 11.30am.
— Shehab Khan (@ShehabKhan) March 31, 2021
The interviews with the chair of the commission are BEFORE publication and therefore BEFORE we've actually read it.
As I'm sure you can imagine that makes scrutiny rather difficult...
We are instead relying on the cherry-picked lines that were briefed by the govt overnight to focus questions. It's a 264 page report...
— Shehab Khan (@ShehabKhan) March 31, 2021
Fortunately we have bulletins throughout the day but that's not the same for all media organisations.
I should also add, the overnight trail had a strict condition that no third parties (including experts!) could be approached to comment until 0001 today.
— Shehab Khan (@ShehabKhan) March 31, 2021
No evidence Britain is institutionally racist, government commission finds
Good morning. Last summer, in response to concerns highlighted by the Black Lives Matter protests, Boris Johnson set up a Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities to look at the extent of racial inequalities in the UK. This was less than three years after Theresa May’s government published its own race disparities audit, but the motives were different. May wanted to reduce racial disparities, which she saw as some of the “burning injustices” she highlighted in a speech on her first day as PM (an agenda she was never able to address properly because of Brexit).
Johnson is also committed to racial equality, but his commission had a different agenda, or sub-agenda. Some of those around him (particularly Munira Mirza, his head of policy at No 10), are sceptical of claims that structural racism is embedded in the UK, and they were hoping the commission would reshape the argument on this issue.
There was an obvious political agenda here too. Both wings of the Conservative party coalition - middle-class, Telegraph-reading southerners and “Red Wall” working-class northerners - would broadly agree with Johnson on this issue. But for the Labour coalition it is more problematic, because the strongly pro-BLM views of its activist base are not always shared by more socially conservative, working-class Labour voters.
The 264-page report from the commission is out later this morning, but last night the Government Equalities Office sent out a two-page summary. It was not widely distributed (one of the leading specialists covering race did not get a copy), and the press notice seemed intended to provoke a reaction. It said:
The landmark report challenges the view that Britain has failed to make progress in tackling racial inequality, suggesting the well-meaning “idealism” of many young people who claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence.
My colleagues Peter Walker and Aamna Mohdin have written it up here.
It may well be that the full report is more nuanced than the press summary suggests. In an interview on the Today programme, Tony Sewell, the education specialist who chaired the commission, insisted that the report does not deny racism exists. But he said he did not accept that Britain was institutionally racist. He said:
No one in the report is saying racism doesn’t exist. We found anecdotal evidence of this; however, what we did find was the evidence of actual institutional racism, no, that wasn’t there, we didn’t find that in our report.
What we have seen is that the term ‘institutional racism’ is sometimes wrongly applied and it’s been a sort of a catch-all phrase for micro-aggressions or acts of racial abuse but essentially - and also people use it interchangeably, systematic racism, structural racism ... just being used wrongly.
In fact what we’ve done is we want to almost protect the term, we want to almost say that, look - what you have do is look at this thing in terms of the evidence, where there is robust assessment and evidence of it, then apply it, deep-seated racism in institutions, yes.
Here is the agenda for the day.
11am: The Green party holds a local election campaign launch in London.
11.30am: The government publishes the report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.
12pm: Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, delivers what is being billed as a major speech on foreign policy.
1.30pm: Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, holds a press briefing.
Politics Live has been mostly about Covid for the last year and I will be covering UK coronavirus developments today, as well as non-coronavirus Westminster politics. For global coronavirus news, do read our global live blog.
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